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■ Acer's profit doubles
Acer Inc, the nation's third-largest computer company by market value, said first-quarter profit more than doubled as the company sold more notebook computers to Europe and desktop units to China. Net income at the Taipei-based company rose to NT$1.4 billion (US$42 million) from NT$659.6 million a year ago, spokesman Henry Wang (汪島雄) said. Sales, announced earlier, doubled to NT$27.2 billion. Acer rose to the No. 5 rank in global personal computer market share in the first quarter, market researcher IDC said earlier this month.

■ Chi Mei posts profit
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) posted its fourth straight quarter of profit in the first three months of the year, as profit hit NT$8.3 billion (US$249.2 million), or NT$2.52 per share. In comparison, the company reported a NT$628 million loss, or NT$0.31 per share, a year earlier, according to a statement it filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. First quarter sales rose by 115 percent to NT$24.7 billion. The company will hold a meeting in Taipei on May 6 to provide details on the first-quarter results.

■ Ministry feeling bullish
Thanks to the global economic rebound, Taiwan's IC industry should do well, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Wednesday. The production value of the domestic IC industry this year should reach NT$1.16 trillion (US$35.14 billion), representing annual growth of 41.6 percent, according to the ministry. The production value of the industry -- including design, manufacturing, packaging and testing -- in the first quarter of this year was NT$240.8 billion, it said.

■ China Steel's profit rises
China Steel Corp (中鋼) said first-quarter net income rose to NT$10.1 billion (US$305 million) from NT$9.1 billion, after the company raised prices amid a rebound in demand for raw materials. Revenue increased 17 percent to NT$35.6 billion from NT$30.4 billion, the company said in a statement. The state-controlled company said in February it would raise prices again for the current quarter to reflect higher international prices and rising raw material and transportation costs.

■ Telecom forecasts profit slide
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) forecast a NT$41.6 billion (US$1.3 billion) profit for this year, a decline of 14 percent from last year. Chunghwa Telecom also said sales may fall 1.1 percent from last year to NT$177.2 billion, according to a statement it filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The state-controlled telecom operator reported yesterday that first-quarter profit rose 20 percent to NT$12.9 billion (US$390 million) from NT$10.8 billion a year earlier, while sales for the quarter rose 3.2 percent to NT$45.6 billion.

■ March bank lending rises
Bank lending last month rose at its fastest rate in 69 months as record-low interest rates encouraged companies to tap credit lines to fund expansion and consumers to borrow more money to spend. Total lending by the nation's financial institutions rose 8.2 percent from a year earlier to NT$14.5 trillion (US$438.4 billion), the central bank said on its Web site. The increase is the biggest since an 8.65 percent gain in June 1998 and the seventh straight month of gains.

■ NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday remained weak against its US counterpart, falling NT$0.214 to close at NT$33.295 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$1.03 billion.

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